One Hundred Matthew and Mary DrabblesOneshots
by NarcissaTheSecond
Summary: Well, it says it in the title really : Chronologically ordered drabbles and one-shots ranging from 200 words to 2000 :
1. Birth

** Birth**

When Mary awoke morning, the last thing she expected was for her life to crumble around her. The news had broken the night before and the papers rushed to print out headlines about the Unsinkable ship sinking. James and Patrick had been on that ship. Mary's future had been on that ship and now it was gone.

Mary wasn't a cruel person, but wasn't she one to beat around the bush. She didn't love Patrick; she'd been forced to contend with him from a young age and had simply continued to do so into adulthood. Apparently, she had done it so well that it had prompted him to propose. She had accepted, of course.

Father would call her selfish when she was relieved that she didn't have to wear black, mother would call her heartless, Edith would simply avoid her. Sybil, however, would whisper softly.

"Maybe it's not the death of Patrick and James we should think of...perhaps its the birth of new possibilities." Mary caught her sisters eye in her mirror, her own teartracks making her face red. She smiled slightly.

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**Well, this is my first attempt at writing a Drabble's collection and I've decided to do it about Mary and Matthew. You'll probably get a fair few chapters up today but after that, they may slow down a little.**

**I've not got a limit on the amount of words I'll be using for each Drabble and , if I like them that much, you may even get full on one-shots.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy :D**

_Steph xx_


	2. Enthusiasm

**Enthusiasm**

When Mary was told of Matthew, she didn't like the sound of him. He was obviously coming so that he could sweep the estate and all it held from beneath their feet at the first chance. Mary even mentioned to her father that someone like that could do anything in their power for what they wanted to which he had laughed and said,  
"Mary, darling, what is he going to do? Slip Arsenic into my morning tea?" He laughed, loud and rumbling, but Mary was furious that he was mocking her and simply walked away.

When Mary met Matthew, she didn't like him. Not one bit. He appeared arrogant, opinionated and rude. Not, she thought begrudgingly, unlike herself. His mother seemed OK, but she was no where near the right class to be associated with the Crawleys and that just made the fact that Mary was being passed over for this...this caveman even more humiliating.

She invited them to dine at the house because her parents had requested it but if it were up to her, they'd have been sent on their merry way immediately.

It pained Mary a little; the fact that Matthew wasn't wrong. She knew her parents would try and play matchmakers, try and force her and Matthew into one anothers arms. The truth was, however much she wanted her parents money, title and estate, she could never put herself through the misery of spending a lifetime with Matthew Crawley. Nevertheless, she tried to be charming and enthusiastic when she invited them and Mrs Crawley seemed mollified by it. She wondered if she would be as enthusiastic to become Mother of the house once Mary's dear father was gone. The thought sent her on her way.

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**There's number two :)**

**I'm aware that they've started a little short, but they'll get longer I promise! **  
**Anyway, please keep reading, I love your opinions to so R&R too, if you can!**

_Steph x_


	3. Love

**Love**

"Mama, he's incorrigible!"

"How so?" Cora Crawley inquired, sitting on her daughters bed while Anna neatly arranged Mary's hair in a pile on her head. She cocked her head to the side slightly, her eyebrows raised. If she was honest, Mary had it out for Matthew from the beginning. She didn't give the boy a chance, which was what frustrated her mother. If Mary had actually taken the time out to speak to Matthew, get to know him, find out about him and _then _come to the conclusion she was at now, Cora wouldn't have blinked. However, she had not done this and Cora knew for a fact that Matthew was the opposite of incorrigible. He was sweet, kind, the perfect gentleman. Mary simply didn't like him by default.

"Well...he simply is." She said, stubbornly. "He's unaware of proper etiquette-"

"We shall teach him."

"He's completely dim when it comes to the workings of the estate-"

"Your father is helping him with that."

"He's...he's...well, he's not married, so there will be no lady of the house!"

"So, marry him."

This caught Mary completely off guard and she spun around in her chair, giving no thought to what Anna was trying to do for her hair. For a long while, she was speechless and her mother offered no help, simply sitting there, looking at her with those perfectly shaped, raised eyebrows.

"What?" Mary finally managed to spit out, in a very un-ladylike manner.

"I said; so marry him." Cora replied, "Mary, once he is educated in the etiquette of our class, knows all about the estate and surroundings, all he's going to need is a wife. Why shouldn't it be you?"

"Perhaps because I don't love him?" She said, turning back to face the mirror and avoiding her mothers eyes.

"You could learn too." Cora said, in a voice that was suddenly filled with emotion. Then she left the room.

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**There's number three! I thought I'd slip in a subtle bit of Cora/Robert at the end there, with Cora referencing their own relationship when she suggests Mary learn to love Matthew, much the way I believe she learned to love Robert and vice-verca. **

_Steph xx_


End file.
